Only a fraction of the money donated to help survivors of the earthquake and tsunami has made it into the hands of disaster victims nearly two months since the devastation of March 11. The Japanese Red Cross Society and other entities have sent about $715 million in initial payments to Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. But less than 10 percent of that amount has reached the victims, according to investigations by the Yomiuri Shimbun. The standstill has been attributed to lack of staff at local governments as well as difficulty in identifying recipients and informing them the donations are available.

australia

Last World War I combat vet dead

Claude Stanley Choules, the last known combat veteran of World War I, died today at a nursing home in Perth, his family said. He was 110. Choules, born on March 3, 1901, and another Briton, Florence Green, became the last known surviving World War I service members after the death of American Frank Buckles in February, according to the Order of the First World War, a U.S.-based group that tracks veterans. Green, who turned 110 years old in February, served as a waiter in the Women's Royal Air Force.

maryland

Officials suspend autism doctor

A doctor nationally known for treating autism with a drug sometimes used to chemically castrate sex offenders has been suspended from practicing medicine after state officials determined he is putting children at risk. Dr. Mark Geier allegedly misrepresented his credentials, misdiagnosed children and urged parents to approve risky treatments without fully informing them of the potential dangers, according to the Maryland State Board of Physicians.

oklahoma

Mosque bombing suspect killed

A man wanted in the May 10, 2010, bombing of the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville was shot and killed Wednesday when he brandished a weapon as agents tried to serve an arrest warrant in northwest Oklahoma, FBI officials said. Sandlin Matthews Smith, 46, of St. Johns County pulled out a firearm as federal and state law enforcement officers approached him in a field at Glass Mountain State Park near Orienta and asked him to surrender, FBI Special Agent Jeff Westcott of Jacksonville said.

Elsewhere

Illinois: The $186.4 million in federal money that Florida turned down for high-speed passenger rail was awarded to Illinois for improvements on part of the 110 mph corridor between Chicago and St. Louis.

Indianapolis: Nineteen people have been arrested in connection with a violent Latin American prostitution ring that smuggled women into the United States to work in brothels across the Midwest and as far away as Florida and New York, federal prosecutors said.

Massachusetts: Two teens accused of harassing a 15-year-old classmate who later hanged herself were sentenced to a year of probation, the first of five anticipated plea deals in a case that drew worldwide attention to school bullying.

Washington:Jon Summers, an aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said the 71-year-old Democrat from Nevada dislocated his right shoulder and has a bump over his left eye after a fall on Wednesday.